The present disclosure relates to support surfaces, and particularly, to support surfaces for chairs, beds, wheelchairs, couches, stretchers, or other pieces of person-support furniture. Some aspects of the present disclosure relate to support devices having support surfaces with associated apparatus for adjusting the interface pressure between the support surface and a person supported by the support surface.
Incapacitated or otherwise immobile people spend a great deal of time sitting or lying on various types of support devices such as chairs, beds, couches, and wheelchairs. For example, patients in hospitals or other healthcare facilities are typically supported on hospital beds, stretchers, wheelchairs and other means of support and conveyance. It is desirable to control interface pressures between these support devices and the patients supported thereon in order to prevent complications of prolonged immobility, such as pressure sores. Some prior art support systems alternately inflate and deflate various air bladders of a patient support surface to, for example, rotate the patient cyclically from side-to-side or to change which air bags among two or more sets of alternating, laterally extending air bags are primarily responsible for supporting the patient.